The Alien Relic (3.1)

"UNFORTUNATELY, OUR PLAN FAILED AT JUPITER station," a Platonian said in an unperturbed tone as he entered a cool, sparsely-furnished room.

The Platonian ship had landed in an underground hanger a few days prior. Jean had been brought into this small room with its dark earth packed walls and found herself locked inside, unable to get back to her ship.

As if I would even know where it is now.

Jean stood beneath a small upward slanted window that afforded only a view of the sky—the only source of light in the room.

Heck, I don't even know where I am, just that the pattern of the stars isn't right for any planet I've been on.

She turned from the window and sat down in a chair beside a small, crudely-designed desk. The Platonian flicked the door shut, slamming it loudly, with a single, smooth motion of his tail.

"What happened?" Jean asked, tentatively looking up at the tall Platonian through the dim lighting of her room.

"We found where the relic was and froze over the entrance to the cave that triggers the alien's trap. Unfortunately, the aliens decided that the humans were already too close to their relic. The aliens sent some vicious creatures into the station to attack the humans."

Sorrow spread across Jean's face at the news, she slumped further down into her chair.

"Neb, what happened? I thought your plan would keep anyone from getting harmed," Jean asked the Platonian standing in the shadows.

"We tried to stop the attack and failed, but you must put this behind you. We have received bad news," Neb replied with a dark look. "The Aliens have changed their tactics. They are now luring the humans into finding these relics with a map which means more of your kind will fall into their traps. We must find a way to deter the humans from their quest before they get hurt."

Jean flinched as he stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him once again. Confused over this turn of events, she absently traced her finger along the edge of the alien translator clamped over her left ear.

What could these aliens gain by leading curious humans around to find relics and then attacking them? I'm afraid it's going to be much harder to scare the humans away from what they undeniably feel is a scavenger hunt.

*****

The Kingston family reached Mare Crisium and began setting up the portable habitats. Dr. Smith and Captain Mitchell lost no time preparing the site for their camp-out. With the camp secure, the Kingston family and Captain Mitchell sat in their space suits on lunar chairs gazing out into the stars. A view the colonists particularly enjoyed since it was unhindered by the colonies' protective glass domes. Much like earth's atmosphere, the domes tended to obscure the view of the stars.

Dr. Smith mumbled something about wanting to explore the rest of the crater, and walked off slowly, peering closely at the lunar dust that covered the ground around them. Captain Mitchell watched after him in amusement for a few moments.

"What do you think that is all about?" Dr. Kingston asked.

"Dr. Smith has become a little too attached to the agriculture project he and I have been working on." Eli replied, shaking his head in amusement. "Don't worry. Give him a few hours, and he'll feel like vacationing with the rest of us."

Laurie looked over to Captain Mitchell, who was chuckling. "Captain Mitchell, Dad told me that you had a story to tell us about this crater."

"Yes indeed, Miss Laurie. I heard it from one of the older colonists. He says something happened here many years ago."

"Really! What was it?" Laurie exclaimed, sitting up in her chair and trying not to tip it over in the limited lunar gravity.

"The lunar base radar picked up something that appeared to land out here. They couldn't tell if it was a solid object or something else. Then suddenly it was gone, nothing but some shapes in the lunar dust was found, and the case was dismissed. That is about where the facts stop, and rumors begin.

"Rumor has it that the object was an alien ship spying on us through our own security cameras, but no one really knows. Rumor also says that before the object left lunar orbit, it appeared to drop something out here on the moon somewhere..."

*****

A traveling alien missionary gazed out his ship's window at the small blue world spinning lazily on its axis; the clouds in its atmosphere creating many shadowy shapes on its surface. There were enough inhabitants on this planet that the lights from their homes could be seen on the dark side even from space. Many of the souls on this planet and in its colonies didn't believe that aliens could actually exist. As the population of the galaxy grew, it was becoming more difficult to shelter them from this realization. The time had finally come to set the stage and pull back the curtain…

"Journal Entry #5872."

"In the Intergalactic Bible, there is a story about the day after Jesus' crucifixion here on earth. Two men were walking down the road with glum faces. A passing traveler stopped them as they passed and asked them why they looked so sad. The two men gaped at the traveler amazed that he seemed unaware of the events that had transpired in Jerusalem three days before. When they brought up the subject, the traveler began to tell them in detail how the Scriptures had said that this would happen, that indeed it must.

I can imagine that the traveler must have felt somewhat sad that despite all the two men had witnessed— they still did not believe. The traveler was also probably happy that he had one last chance to tell these men the good news that was staring them in the face. Maybe the talk with the traveler helped those two men see that Jesus, God's son, had died to save everyone from sin. The two men invited the traveler to their house for dinner. It was there, as they sat and prepared to eat, that they realized that the traveler was Jesus himself! I can almost see the men's faces, exhibiting surprise, happiness, and shock! The 'traveler' then instantly vanished‒more than likely glad to have shared the good news of His resurrection.

I too am traveling, through space to other planets trying to share the good news of His resurrection to their inhabitants. I do not know how the inhabitants of this planet will react to me and what I have to say, but I do know that I shouldn't feel nervous because I know I am doing this for God. But I also know that I am not perfect. May the Lord grant me strength and peace of mind."

With those final words, the interplanetary missionary shut off his electronic journal and paused for a moment in thought.

Perhaps it might be better to start out with the smaller world that contains fewer of this species.

The missionary looked past the blue spinning ball, toward its gray, dusty, cratered moon.

The alien landed his small ship inside one of the moon's craters, the dust of which had yet to be disturbed by Mankind's desire to populate the moon. As he landed, the matte black color of the hull of his ship could not be detected against the darkness of space. He sat at the bottom of the crater in his ship, as the ship changed colors to match the lunar landscape. The extraterrestrial then replayed the flight logs on a screen that was built into the floor in front of him.

From the logs, he could tell that there were many human colonies on and below the lunar surface. Each colony was glittering and teeming with human life. The alien called out a short command to the ship's computer, which promptly connected to all the cities' systems. Silently, he observed the humans going about their everyday activities.

It was a normal Saturday inside Tranquility City. While many families went to see the latest movies in the virtual theaters, others chose to spend their first free day of the week inside one of the many gyms and recreation centers.

The alien missionary pondered the scowl on the face of one woman, perhaps in her seventies, peddling away on a stationary bicycle. She stared intensely at the numbers on the bike screen tracking her speed and the calories she had burned. Her progress must not have pleased her because as her speed dropped her scowl deepened while she struggled to pick up the pace again. Not far from her was a man lifting weights, holding his breath and turning a rather alarming shade of red. The alien missionary watched as a staff member approached the man.

"Mr. Barady, how heavy is that particular weight that you are lifting?"

The man dropped the weights back on their perch with a rather rude clang. The staff member winced.

"Why does it matter how heavy it is? I can lift what I want! Are you my doctor? Young people today; they can't even mind their own business!" he groused.

Mr. Barady flexed his large meaty hands into fists before the staff member quickly dismissed himself.

The alien switched his attention to a tall blond lady climbing a simulated rock wall without even a hint of enjoyment on her face. For someone who is supposed to be having fun, she looks pretty depressed...the alien missionary mused.

She climbed to the top of the rock wall as fast as she could and paused at the top. She let go with one arm and stared down at the floor below, a distant look of longing in her eyes. She glanced at her other hand still firmly holding onto the rock face. Then stared solemnly back down at the floor. She's not thinking about jumping, is she? The alien missionary leaned closer to the screen and watched her anxiously.

To his relief the lady sighed and appeared to change her mind before climbing back down to the floor. She headed back up the rock wall again, not looking any happier than she had before.

The alien's gaze shifted back to the woman on the stationary bike who was pedaling away as if she were in a marathon toward some magic calorie-burning number. The alien shook his head. Her race toward perfection will only end in misery. A teenager stepped through the open door of the recreation room, bringing a ray of sunshine as she bounced over to the woman on the stationary bike. She stood off to the side grinning. The alien watched the teen set her shoulder bag on the floor, kneel and pull out a pad of paper and a pencil, ready to write.

"Miss Tort, I am doing an article for Tranquility Colony's news'ologram. As you more than likely know, Earth is considering bringing all plans in the space program to a standstill, including plans for the new space ship, the Star Traveler. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions on this?" the teen asked, with a bit of hesitation.

"Speak up, child! And yes, I do mind. There is nothing more pointless and time- consuming than having to answer someone else's questions for no good reason!" Miss Tort snapped.

"I just thought…"

"That's the problem with young people today; too much thinking. Learn to pay attention to your own business!" Miss Tort chastised the young reporter.

"Don't you think they ought to continue trying to see if there is other life out in the universe?" Ann asked.

"No. I thought I told you that already. We need to pay attention to our own business. Besides, who says there are aliens out there?"

"Well," Ann started, "if God can create us humans and our Earth, who says that He couldn't have created life on other planets as well?"

"Don't be ridiculous, child!" Mrs. Tort replied, jumping off the bicycle with a haughty snort. "God is just a myth to keep kids out of trouble!"

Ann watched, dejected, as Mrs. Tort stomped out of the recreation room like a hurricane on its path of destruction.

The alien interplanetary missionary slumped a little in his chair as he realized that the humans might be too closed-minded to even consider his message, to say nothing of accepting the fact that he‒an alien‒was actually visiting them.

"Computer connect me to Omega Squadron."

The alien's ship gave a low hum as it processed the command. A new alien face appeared on another screen at the missionary's feet. He promptly relayed to the squadron leader the events he had just witnessed from his remote location.

"It seems as though you'd better head on out to one of the humans' smaller colonies‒our sources tell us that not all of them are as close-minded. We will send a team to watch Planet Earth for signs they may be receptive. Be wary of those who will try to force you to stop your mission. May God be with you, Sontrel."

"Yes Sir, I will do as you suggest," the interplanetary missionary gave a curt nod of affirmation in the viewscreen's direction.

He dropped a capsule from the ship and watched as it settled into the lunar dust below. After a silent prayer that humankind would one day learn to decipher the lithographs encoded in the Intergalactic Bible encased in the capsule, the missionary lifted off once more, in search of other human colonies.

*****